Jay-Z came out triumphant after the Southern District of New York dropped its latest order deciding that the entertainer and producer and his entourage did not infringe on another’s copyrights by using their “Oh” in his single Run This Town. The allegedly infringing song features performances by Jay-Z, Rihanna and […]
On March 5, Ron Wyden, a Democratic Senator from Oregon, introduced S. 467, a bill known as the Wireless Device Independence Act which is meant to re-legalize the unlocking of cellphones to connect to alternative network carriers of the consumer’s choosing. This bill came as a very swift response to the recent grandfathering of an exemption the […]
The Brazilian National Institute of Industrial Property (Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial) denied Apple’s application to register the iPhone trademark in Brazil because of a conflicting registration. Apparently, Gradiente Eletronica SA registered the the iPhone trademark in 2000 for goods in Class 9, which includes mobile devices and accessories, which […]
Recently, the Chinese Trade Mark Office launched an English language online tool permitting searching of trademarks registered domestically in the People’s Republic of China. Users may search by international trademark classification, keywords and other traditional search fields, but the effectiveness of the searches is yet to be determined and needless […]
Recently the Copyright Office issued its triennial list of exemptions retiring the exemption for cellphone unlocking, done mainly in order to switch network carriers. The exemption was necessary to legalize the circumventing electronic locks placed on phones to control which wireless network the devices can connect to. This activity is regulated by […]
President Barak Obama is about to sign a new amendment to the Economic Espionage Act which extends trade secret protection for proprietary information which is not directly used by the owner in commerce. Congress drafted this amendment as a response to a recent Second Circuit case which ruffled some legislative […]
Last month, the Patents County Court in the United Kingdom implemented an easier and cheaper process for prosecuting run-of-the-mill infringers called ’small claims track.’ Aggrieved copyright owners can use the small claims for cases involving copyright or trademark infringement, unregistered design rights and passing off (a trademark-related concept). However, cases […]
Last week, one of MTV’s Latin America distributors, Sam Panama Trading Co. (“SPT”), sued the network and its parent company Viacom in New York federal court for not registering MTV trademarks in Latin America where SPT had contracted to exploit them. Apparently, SPT was selling merchandise carrying MTV branding in Latin […]
There were a couple of firecracker developments in the eagerly anticipated Aereo case last week. The Southern District of New York denied the broadcasters’ motion for a preliminary injunction, which they immediately appealed to the Second Circuit – clearly the plaintiffs were prepared for a negative outcome of their motion. […]
If you looked for a digital version of Def Leppard’s greatest hits recorded 20-30 years ago, you would not be able to find them and it the legendary band had it their way, you never will! Def Leppard has retaliated against its long time record label, Universal, by endeavoring to […]